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| I'm leaving xanga. Frankly, blogspot is easier and more organized. Heather and I are doing a blog together.
Here is the link:
http://noplacelikehorn.blogspot.com/
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| Thanks to Blockbuster's $1 a night deal, Heather and I have watched lots of movies over the last few weeks. I'll name just a few and give my opinion. We tried to mix it up with comedy, drama, action and horror movies.
Dawn of the Dead (2004 remake)
This is a fantastic movie. I love zombie flicks in general and this one doesn't disappoint, even if it is a remake. I give it a solid 4/5.
Hancock
A pretty good movie. It got a little weird near the end, but I'd be excited about a more action-oriented sequel. I give it 4/5.
Tropic Thunder
A terribly ridiculous movie, but it was definitely funny. While I can only give it a 3/5, I still think it's worth watching.
Fear Dot Com
This movie came out around the same time as "The Ring", and had a similar focus. Instead of dying when you see the TV, people die when they visit the website. It was a pretty dumb movie. I give it 1/5.
Mama Mia
This movie has a significant amount of hype and I am not sure why. I was thoroughly disappointed and just for the record, Pierce Brosnan CANNOT SING. I give this one 2/5 (and it only gets that high because it had a few good laughs).
Dark Knight
This is an AMAZING movie. 5/5 for sure.
Prince Caspian
Not as good as the first movie from the series, which is saying a lot about the first one because I have to give this one 5/5. (But I am biased... I absolutely love these stories)
Expelled
I have to give this one 2/5. It was mildly interesting and the editing was well-done, but it was pretty disappointing how far the creators went to falsify information. For one thing, the quote from Darwin's Origin of Species was terribly misquoted. They used the quote to show that Darwin supported eugenics, but if you actually knew the passage, you would remember that he specifically explained that humans were special compared to other organisms. We are special in that we can choose good and evil, and that killing our weakest members would make us evil. Also, they painted Richard Dawkins and the other evolutionists as evil (note the intentionally sinister music). From what I understand, Dawkins and the others were lied to about the topic of the documentary. They got the footage then used it in this movie. I'm sorry, but all that deception just makes this a piece of ignorance stimulating propaganda. There was also very little science in the movie, just politics.
Joshua<><
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| Yesterday was easily the worst day I've had in quite a long time.
It started when I went in to the lab. The walk into the medical center was absolutely brutal (the high yesterday was 7 with a wind chill around -10). I had to park further away than my usual spot, so that made the walk inevitably more painful.
I did some work in the lab, then I had class. A young woman from China needed a ride to the DMV (along with her friend) to apply for a driving permit. Everyone else had told them no, but I jumped on it and offered them a ride. They were so grateful and happy.
So after class, I took the brutal walk back to the car, warmed it up, then picked them up at the medical center. I picked them up around 2:15 and drove to the DMV on West Henrietta road. The traffic was heavy, but we made it there fine. I dropped them off, picked up a few things at Walmart, then came back. They had finished their test and were not waiting for the printed permit. We ended up waiting there for another hour or so, and didn't leave the DMV until 4 pm.
Here's where it gets really fun... On the way back to the medical center, a car was honking at me. I opened the window and he said I had a flat tire. I pulled up behind the medical center, let the two passengers out, then went straight to fixing the tire (4:30ish). I jacked up the car, removed the lug nuts, then started pulling... NO LUCK. The tire was rusted and frozen onto the car. No amount of prying, twisting, or pulling was successful. I was at it for nearly an hour (note, the temperature was down around 3 at this point... with a much lower wind chill). I was covered in mud, soaked and cold.
I went into the medical center to warm up. I washed up a little (but my jeans are pretty ruined). I went back out, put the lug nuts back on the car, lowered the jack and tried to start it. NOTHING. The battery was dead. I popped the hood, tried to figure something out, but then realized I know nothing about cars.
I called Heather. Shijo picked me up. He dropped me off back at the apartment with my frozen laptop and bag of groceries. I showered, cleaned up and chilled for a bit while Heather was hanging with the small group ladies.
Then the women came back here to watch a movie. I was then headed out to hang out with one of their husbands...
I drove down into Henrietta and made it to the road where he lives (I lost my directions, so it was all by memory). But I could not remember the apartment number for the life of me. I forgot to put his number (or his wife's number for that matter) into my phone. I tried calling Heather, but she was watching the movie and must have had her phone off. I drove up and down the road looking at the apartments for probably half an hour.
Then I gave up and went to Walmart. I picked up jumper cables, mountain dew and some lotion for my now miserably dry and cracked hands. I wandered around walmart for a while, then headed home.
I mean, it wasn't the worst day ever by any means. But I tried to do a nice thing but ended up getting a flat. In repairing the flat, my battery died. All of this and I didn't get my lab work for the day finished. I didn't get back in time to clean up the apartment for the women to watch a movie. Then I forgot directions to a friend's house, couldn't get anyone on the phone to guide me, wandered around walmart... then went home. To top it off, Leno wasn't funny at all last night.
But hey, I got the tire off this morning, jumped the car, and got it back to the apartment! Yay for Saturdays.
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| It's been a while since I have blogged in any format (whether here or at my Christian site, www.ordinarypen.com). A good deal has happened, but nothing particularly Earth shattering...
Christmas was a good time for Heather and I. We went to visit my family just south of Pittsburgh, PA. We got stuck in extremely slow traffic near Erie, PA and it was snowing in the realm of 2-4 inches per hour. It was pretty ridiculous. My family was very generous... we came away with lots of fun stuff (most notably some gift cards, a digital picture frame, baking supplies for Heather, and a Zombie Survival Guide... YES!!!)
I also got to play Halo 3 and Left 4 Dead with my brother. Shooting aliens and zombies for hours is really, REALLY fun. I almost miss my gaming days early in college. I say almost because the things I have done instead of playing video games have been far more satisfying.
Blockbuster does rentals for only $1 a night now. So you can rent a movie for an evening for just a buck. I think it's a promotional thing in the Rochester area to test it out, but I'm not sure. Either way we've been able to watch lots of movies recently (Mama Mia was terrible, Dawn of the Dead is still hilarious...).
I've been reading quite a bit lately on the movie "Expelled", with Ben Stein. I've been meaning to watch it and hopefully will do that in the next day or two. The nice thing about $1 movie rentals is I can finally go back and watch all the movies I wanted to see but never got around to...
Good times had by all!
Joshua<><
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| It's rather disappointing that I discovered some of the other tidbits in McCain's social policy plan a little too late. Turns out, the tax credits he was planning for dependents would have overwhelming increased the average tax break for low income families. He also had an extensive plan for scholarships for needy students, effectively tripling the education budget of that proposed by Obama.
All the Christians that convinced me it was about social justice in a vote for Obama, shame on you. There is so much more than just universal healthcare and welfare when determining who will bring the kind of justice God desires, and I am extremely disappointed.
As for the weight loss plan, I'm doing great! The weight today came in at 25.5, which is significantly lower than the 27.0 I was hoping for. I think I'm nearing the end of my waste and water weight drop though, so it should become harder to lose!
Day 3
lbs to lose: 25.5
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